Configurator for configuring and displaying the appearance of an article to be configured

ABSTRACT

A configurator and a method of configuring articles has a processor with a memory for storing at least one data record representative of the outward appearance of a type of article and data representative of a plurality of different element designs related with one type of article. A user selects an article and an element design of the article to be configured. There are a plurality of samples, each having a property related to an element design and each sample contains data of the element design and its related property. The data of one or more samples is recognized and associated with the stored element design of the element of the article and the property of the element design is displayed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a configurator for configuring articles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Certain articles, such as kitchen furniture or appointments, articles ofclothing or automobiles, can be configured as desired by the individualcustomer. It is, for example, common practice that a buyer of a newmotor vehicle determines first the type of article, i.e. he selects thetype and the model at the respective car dealer. The thus determinedarticle is then configured by the customer. The customer has thepossibility of freely selecting various article designs. The termarticle design can stand for technical features, such as the type ofengine provided and technical options. Article design in the sense ofthe present invention is, however, especially the design of the articleappealing to the aesthetic sense, i.e. the colour of the outer paintfinish, the colour of the upholstery, the type of upholstery, the colourof trim strips, the colour of keters, the type of wood or the grain ofwood inlays, etc.

Renowned car manufacturers offer nowadays the possibility of configuringa vehicle over the Internet, via terminals or via CD-Roms made availableto the customer. On the respective page of the enterprise, the potentialbuyer is first requested to select a type of article, i.e. a specificmodel of the car manufacturer. Subsequently, the article is designed asdesired by the individual customer, guided by a menu. The customer isconducted through various selection areas in which he has to selectfirst e.g. the desired engine, a design package, then the colour of thevehicle, the type of upholstery, etc. In the case of this menu guidance,all the fields must be worked through in the predetermined sequence. Theselection of a specific article design has the effect that the initiallyselected type of article displayed in the form in question on the screenwill be represented in accordance with the selected article design. Forexample, the article design selection “colour of the outer paint finish”will, after selection of a desired colour by the customer, be realizedby a processor, which is associated with the screen, and the type ofarticle displayed on the screen will be shown with the desired colour. Acorresponding to realization is imaginable for the selection of thewheel rims, the selection of the colour of the upholstery, perhaps theselection of the type of upholstery, etc.

When vehicles are being configured, data originating from theengineering departments of the respective car manufacturers are oftenused for graphically representing the type of article. These data allowarbitrary three-dimensional views of the type of article selected. Whena motor vehicle is being configured, it is therefore known to show tothe user the motor vehicle that it just being configured in anythree-dimensional representation desired. For example, enlarged detailscan be zoomed in; the vehicle to be configured can be rotated. A viewinto the passenger compartment of the vehicle can be shown as well. Therepresentation of these various, preferably three-dimensionallyrepresented views normally takes place on a stationary screen.

In the prior art, the selection of a type of article, and especially ofthe respective article designs, is carried out via an input unit. Thisinput unit can be defined by a keyboard or a mouse operating device.Frequently, so-called touch screens are used for inputting data, since atouch screen can be handled easier and more playfully by the user.Nevertheless, also the user using a touch screen has to work through thepredetermined areas in the given sequence so as to take all thedecisions for configuring his vehicle.

The known systems are therefore inflexible. In addition, they require acertain amount of practice in handling a computer, at least via thetouch screen. The handling of the programs for carrying out theconfiguring necessitates familiarization at least to a certain degree.In addition, it should be taken into consideration that the age ofpersons who buy most frequently a new car is approx. 46. Such personscannot be expected to deal with a computer quite naturally.Irrespectively of his age, the user of a configurator will feel himselfrestricted with regard to his freedom of design by the given menu, andthis will definitely have a negative effect on the fun of configuring anarticle to be ordered. Finally, mere representations on a screen do notprovide the possibility of sufficiently experiencing the effect of theselected designs and of their interplay when the configuring process hasbeen finished. This applies in particular to cases where design elementshaving a texture and specific haptic properties are to be selected andcombined with one another.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Taking this as a basis, the technical problem underlying the presentinvention is to provide a configurator of the type referred at thebeginning, which can be handled more easily and which provides thepossibility of experiencing the effect of the individual article designselected and, in particular, the combinatorial effect of various articledesigns selected. In addition, it is the object of the present inventionto provide a method for configuring articles, which can be handled moreeasily and which provides the possibility of experiencing the effect ofthe article designs selected.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As far as the device is concerned, the present invention discloses aconfigurator for solving the above problem. The configurator differsfrom the prior art insofar as a recognition means is provided with theaid of which a sample of the selectable article design can berecognized. This recognition means is implemented such that it detectsan article design signal which is representative of the article design.The article design signal is associated with the sample. When the sampleis being selected, the article design signal is determinedsimultaneously. Via the recognition means, this article design signal isadvanced to the processor, which will select a specific article designfrom the article design memory and display said article design on thescreen.

It follows that, in contrast to the prior art, the configuratoraccording to the present invention offers the advantage that individualarticle designs exist in the form of real samples, which are combinedwhen the article is being configured. Each individual sample allows theeffect of the respective selected article design to be experienced.Taking still a motor vehicle as an example, the paint finish, e.g. ametallic finish with its light reflections and its metallic gleam,appears as a real image much more attractive than in the case of a mererepresentation on a screen. The screen takes over the article designsignal representative of the paint finish selected and displays the typeof article on the screen in a three-dimensional configuration with thepaint finish selected. The paint finish detail can, however, beexperienced on the basis of the sample.

In addition, the present invention offers the possibility of genuinelyexperiencing the inter-play of the individual article designs selected.For example, a respective sample can be selected for various articledesigns and the samples in question can be arranged side by side or ontop of one another. The article design signals taken from the individualsamples are detected by the recognition means for producing an overallimage, and advanced to the processor for the purpose of representation.On the basis of the representation on the screen, the interplay of thecolours and the total three-dimensional effect produced can be conveyed.A genuine experience of the interplay of the individual article designsis, however, realized via the interplay of the really existing samples.

On the basis of the recognition means for recognizing a sample, theconfigurator according to the present invention allows the effect of thegenuine article design to be experienced directly. This directexperience is much more intensive than any representation on a screen.This is even more relevant in cases where various article designs, e.g.for the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, are combined with oneanother (colour of the upholstery, type of upholstery, colour of keters,perhaps the type of wood and the grain of wood inlays). In contrast tothe prior art, the configurator according to the present invention alsooffers a haptic impression of the respective article designs to beselected since the samples exist in reality. It follows that theconfigurator according to the present invention provides an almost realimage of the article which will be produced later on according to thecustomer's wishes. The configurator according to the present inventionemotionalizes, on the basis of the actually existing samples and theirnoble effect, the selection decision that has to be taken for eacharticle design. This selection decision can be taken without thenecessity of interacting directly with the processor via the screen, butfor representing the article in the selected article design. It willsuffice to select the sample in question, to take hold of it and totransfer it to the recognition means. Handling the configuratoraccording to the present invention is therefore very easy.

Any imaginable means which has been prepared such that it is able torecognize, on the basis of specific information carriers, anunequivocally defined article design can be used as a recognition means.It is, for example, imaginable to provide a barcode recognition meansand to provide corresponding and individual barcodes on the respectivesamples. From the viewpoint of sales psychology, it should, however, bepreferred to use recognition means which do not necessitate specialhandling for reading in the article design signal. The recognition meansis therefore preferably provided with a receiver unit which is adaptedto receive the article design signal of a transmitting unit associatedwith the sample. In a sales talk, a large number of samples for anarticle design will be offered for selection. By coordinating thetransmitting units and the receiver units in a suitable manner, itshould be guaranteed that the article design signal associated with thesample will be ascertained by the receiver unit only after the selectionof a specific sample and the transfer of said sample to a predeterminedlocal area.

A preferred embodiment of the device offers the advantage that thetransmitting unit provided on the sample is capable of functioningwithout having a power source of its own. The transmitting unit can thuspreferably be incorporated into the sample, a solution which should bepreferred because the aesthetic impression will thus be impaired aslittle as possible. In another embodiment the receiver unit includes areceiver plate and the transmitting unit of the sample is defined by atransponder which transmits the article design signal through energysupplied by the receiver plate. When the transmitting unit is defined bya transponder in accordance with a further development according to thepresent invention, maintenance and repair work will not be necessary forthe transponder.

According to a further preferred development of the present invention,the transmitting unit is programmable. This offers the advantage thatthe transmitting unit can first be connected to the respective sample,preferably incorporated in the sample, without the necessity of takinginto consideration what kind of information the transmitting unitcarries. Furthermore, it is possible to program the transmitting unitwith additional information which turns out to be necessary only whenthe configurator is in use.

Another preferred embodiment of the configurator according to thepresent invention is provided with a design element memory, which isknown per se and which is associated with the processor; in said designelement memory, various selectable design elements are stored. Each ofthese various design elements is associated with different designs inthe article design memory. For a motor vehicle, which is the examplereferred in the present connection, the design element is e.g. the outerpaint finish. This design element has associated therewith variouscolours as variable article design. The design element memory has storedtherein a plurality of different design elements, which are, takingstill an automobile as an example: colour of the vehicle, upholstery,existence of trim strips, steering wheel design and the like.

In the case of the configurator according to the present invention, alsothis design element memory is addressed by the sample selected. For thispurpose, the sample selected has associated therewith an element signalthrough which a specific design element is selected from the designelement memory. In other words, the element signal indicates the“function” and the “location” of a sample, whereas the article designsignal indicates the “outward appearance” of a sample. Due to thecombinatorial form of the article design memory and of the designelement memory, which are each addressed by the sample selected, it ispossible to select several samples simultaneously and to read them invia the recognition means.

On the basis of each individual sample, the function of the respectivesample (element signal) and the outward appearance of said sample(article design signal) will then be detected. Taking still a motorvehicle as an example, an almost complete image of the interior trim ofthe vehicle will be obtained when the following is selected: a samplefor the upholstery (texture and colour); a sample for a trim strip; asample for a keter as well as a sample for an inlay. Within theframework of a sales talk, it will not be necessary to assign thefunction to the respective samples. The sample carries both theinformation “outward appearance” as well as the information “function”.

From the above, it can be seen that the present invention provides aconfigurator which, making use of configurator elements that are knownper se, establishes a direct relationship with the article designs to beselected. The quality of the material, the precise effect and especiallythe texture and the haptic properties of the article design can beexperienced genuinely. The overall optical impression is—just as in theprior art—created via one or a plurality of screens when the selectedarticle designs are being realized. The customer and orderer of anarticle who makes use of the configurator is not compelled tocommunicate with the processor via a screen and/or a keyboard. Thiscommunication can take place exclusively through the sample selected.The configurator according to the present invention allows theconfiguring of an article, e.g. of a motor vehicle, to be experienced inan hitherto unknown manner. The customer only concerns himself with theselection of the materials and experiences an interplay of the materialsin the real world. The customer has a complete freedom of design, and heis not restricted with respect to the input of his selection and thetemporal sequence of his selection steps. The customer experiences theconfiguring of the article as an event free from any direct interactionwith the processor. Also a salesman assisting the customer can fullyconcentrate his attention on the customer and the sales talk and doesnot have to concentrate on the input of data into the processor.

In addition, the configurator is completely intuitive. The customer onlyhas to take hold of the sample and arrange the sample in a predeterminedarea. He can combine an arbitrary number of different article designs,each in the form of a sample, and obtain any article design in this way.Especially when a design element memory is realized, the customer isabsolutely free in sequentially selecting each individual articledesign.

The configurator according to the present invention may, of course, alsocomprise a type-of-article memory which is addressed by a sample whichis representative of the type of article and which is recognized by therecognition means. It is easily imaginable to control the configuratorthrough samples alone, to such an extent that e.g. even a very complexarticle, such as an automobile, will be configured up to an includingthe last freely selectable equipment feature.

For solving the method aspect of the above-mentioned problem, thepresent invention suggests, accordingly, a configuring method forconfiguring articles, comprising the steps of representing, in a mannerknown per se, a known type of article on a screen, and selecting atleast one article design, as well as displaying on the screen therepresented type of article with the selected article design. The methodaccording to the present invention differs, however, from the prior artinsofar as the article design is determined via a signal processed in aprocessor, said signal being associated with a selected real sample ofthe article design in question.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A configurator for configuring anddisplaying the appearance of an article to be configured with differentdesign elements that are selectable corresponding to the articlecomprising: a processor having associated therewith a type-of articlememory, which has stored therein at least one data record representativeof the outward appearance of a type of an article to be configured and adesign element memory having stored therein data representative of aplurality of different design elements and associated outer appearancethereof related to one type of article; an input unit for selecting anarticle to be configured; a plurality of samples each representing theouter appearance of a different design element of the article to beconfigured and to be selected by a user of the configurator; atransmitting unit associated with each sample for transmitting signalsindicative of a specific design element and of the outer appearance ofthe design element and a recognition means including a receiver unit forreceiving the signals from the transmitting unit associated with aselected sample and for recognizing a sample selected from the pluralityof samples, said recognition means detecting from the received signalsthe design element and by means of which the specific design elementcorresponding to the sample is selected from the processor designelement memory; wherein the transmitting unit associated with a selectedsample and the receiver unit of the recognition means are adapted to oneanother in such a way that the signals of the sample selected from theplurality of samples presented to the user of the configurator will notbe detected by the receiver unit until the selected sample has beentransferred to a predetermined local area that is within reach of theuser; and a display screen operated by said processor in response to thearticle to be configured selected by said input unit for displaying theouter appearance of the article to display the outer appearance of adesign element of the article to be configured in accordance with thesignals received by said recognition means receiver unit from saidtransmitting unit based on a selected sample.
 2. A configuratoraccording to claim 1, wherein the receiver unit comprises a receiverplate, and wherein the transmitting unit is defined by a transponderwhich transmits the article design signal through energy supplied bysaid receiver plate.
 3. A configurator according to claim 1, wherein thetransmitting unit is adapted to be programmed.
 4. A configuratoraccording to claim 1, further comprising a design element memory,associated with the processor and which has stored therein variousselectable design elements, each of said design elements havingassociated therewith various designs in the article design memory, andwherein a sample has associated therewith an element signal which isrepresentative of the design element and by means of which a specificdesign element is selected from the design element memory.
 5. Aconfigurator according to claim 1 wherein said samples are physicalsamples.
 6. A configurator as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidrecognition means comprises a transmitter for transmitting data from asample and a receiver for receiving the transmitted data.
 7. Aconfigurator as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a receiver plateon which one or more of said samples are placed.